When I began working on the piece, which of course would have glass, I envisioned a glass heart suspended from chicken wire surrounding an encaustic garden background to symbolize a sanctuary. As these projects often do, this idea metmorphosed into something different. I realized that the chicken wire was not sturdy enough to hold the weight of the almost 1000 gram cast glass heart. I tried to think of ways to strengthen the structure and in the end I decided to use barbed wire and eliminated the chicken wire altogether.

Just like the children who need protection from abuse this piece is protected by the circle of barbed wire around the encaustic painting. With some rusty barbed wire donated by a friend, “Sanctuary” represents a safe place for children of abuse where love is found. This is Sanctuary. Some call it the garden of the soul.